


Mal Vignettes #1

by wheel_pen



Series: Viridian Mal [2]
Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fish out of Water, Gen, Imprinting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 11:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/760825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trip and Mal learn some important lessons about shower etiquette, and the proper place to take naps.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mal Vignettes #1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Viridians appear human, but are actually aliens who imprint on other people (Viridian or otherwise) and form a bond with them. They also live their entire life cycle in about six Earth years.
> 
> 2\. In each series, a different character is a Viridian, who was raised by mean Klingons on an outpost. An Enterprise crewmember is captured by the Klingons and they inadvertently form a bond with the Viridian, who helps them escape. Then they return to rescue the Viridian and bring them aboard the Enterprise. The Viridian homeworld is contacted and the Enterprise crew learn the Viridian will most likely die if they are sent away. So they end up staying on the Enterprise, and the crewmember has to adjust.
> 
> 3\. The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this AU. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.

"Trip! Help me!"

The engineer reacted immediately, tossing the data pad he was reading aside and racing to the bathroom door. He didn't hesitate before entering, but he stopped outside the shower stall, unable to see anything through the steamed glass except a vague movement.

"Mal? Are you okay?"

"Trip! Help me! It really hurts!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" Trip rounded the curved overlap of glass that kept water and heat in the stall in lieu of a door. Mal was standing just aside from the stream of water, unsurprisingly completely naked, his hands covering his face. "Mal, what's wrong? Come here." The man just whimpered, refusing to move, so in the name of expediency Trip stepped in, fully clothed. "What's wrong? Let me see."

If Trip expected blood to come gushing from Mal's face when he pried his hands away, or his eyeball to pop out, or something else dramatic, well, he was sorely disappointed. Instead, Mal was merely squinting one eye shut.

"Well what's wrong?" Trip demanded, unaccustomed to standing fully clothed in the shower with a naked man, and not willing to _become_ accustomed to it any time soon.

"My eye hurts," Mal complained. "I think I got soap in it."

Trip stared at him. "J---s, Mal, I thought there was really something wrong with you!" he snapped. "Don't you know better than to holler for help when you don't really need it?!"

"But it really hurts, Trip!" Mal insisted. "It really stings!"

"J---s H. C----t," Trip swore. "All the cryin' you're doing will probably wash it out well enough!"

Mal became even more distressed. "Don't you _care_?!" he whined. "I could suffer permanent damage! What if I go blind?!"

"Well stick your d—n face under the water or something," Trip advised irritably. He slogged his way out of the shower, dripping all over the floor. "I'm gonna change."

 

***

 

"—now just let me show you one more thing real quick," Trip insisted, contorting himself yet more underneath the panel. Archer gave him a brief look but dared not show anything less than total enthusiasm for his engineer's latest modifications. Not that he didn't appreciate them—far from it, the ideas Trip and his crew came up with had helped improve efficiency on the ship considerably. It was just that—really, Archer didn't need to know about them in _quite_ so much detail. He already knew he would have to stop by his quarters for a fresh, non-grease-spattered uniform before he'd be allowed back on the Bridge without a disapproving look from T'Pol.

"Hand me the—oh, hang on a second," Trip muttered, sliding out from under the panel finally. He glanced around pensively at the tools scattered by his feet. Archer would have offered to help if he'd known what Trip was looking for. And if he hadn't wanted to leave, really. "Oh, I remember, I had Mal put that away already," Trip decided.

"How's he been?" Archer asked, quickly seizing on a new topic.

"Oh, he's okay," Trip shrugged without near the enthusiasm he'd showed for his system modifications. "Follows me around everywhere. Wants me to pay attention to him all the time. Gets kinda whiny when he doesn't get fed on time. Actually more on the annoying end," Trip admitted.

Archer patted his friend's shoulder and got a palm full of grease for his trouble. "Well, give it some time, Trip," he advised, looking for a discreet place to wipe his hand. "You just need to get used to each other."

"I guess," Trip responded dubiously. "Anyway, he's useful for running errands, putting stuff away. I'll have him clean up all this, he'll love it." The engineer picked up a hypospanner thoughtfully. "I guess I could use this instead," he decided, looking back at the disemboweled panel.

"Uh, where is Mal, anyway?" Archer hoped he didn't sound too desperate to avoid more hardcore engineering reconfigurations. "I don't see him anywhere." Usually Mal was so close at hand you could stumble over him, and Archer already had, several times.

"Huh, I don't know," Trip admitted, looking around. "He doesn't often miss an opportunity to—"

"Uh, Trip?" Archer interrupted, a smirk tugging at his lips. He nodded towards the warp core.

Trip looked and saw nothing unusual, even stood for a better view. Warning lights weren't flashing, panels weren't open, hoses weren't leaking—

"G-------t!" Trip swore suddenly, as he saw what Archer had meant. There was Mal—on top of the warp core. Curled up, apparently asleep. "That little brat, I am gonna—"

"Commander!" Archer said severely, as Trip started off with murder in his eyes. "Put the hypospanner down."

With exaggerated gentleness Trip placed the tool on a nearby surface, then hoisted himself up the ladder to the top of the warp core. "Wake up!" he yelled at Mal, startling half of the crew in Engineering. "Wake up! Get up!"

Lazily Mal unfolded himself from his nap. "But it's so cozy and warm up here," he whined. "The big machine kind of hums a little."

"The 'big machine' is the warp core!" Trip informed him, heavy on the exasperation. "And no one sleeps on my warp core! Now GET UP!"

Trip didn't quite aim a kick at Mal. Archer would have yelled at him if he had. But his foot twitched like he really, really wanted to boot the still half-reclined Mal back down to the floor, and the other man must have sensed it. With remarkable agility and grace Mal leaped from the warp core to the railing of the second-story catwalk. He clung there comfortably for a moment, almost monkey-like, then vaulted himself over to stand on the catwalk proper, gazing down at Trip with a touch of smugness.

Archer was quite impressed with the gymnastic display, but Trip had apparently seen that trick before and found the repeat performance more irritating than astounding. "You stay off my warp core!" he warned once again, before climbing back down. Archer stood at the bottom of the ladder. "You see what I gotta put up with?" he demanded.

"Well, I don't know, Trip, he was just taking a nap," Archer suggested. He smiled to show he was just kidding when the engineer whipped around to give him a death glare.

"Taking a nap on the warp core," Trip grumbled, returning to the panel he'd been disassembling for Archer. "Next he'll want a massage table by the impulse manifold and a snack bar in front of the plasma injectors." He stopped and sighed suddenly, just as Archer was thinking he could use a snack himself right about now. "I'm sorry, Captain," Trip told him. "D'you mind if we cut the demo a little short? Think you've seen all the most interesting parts anyway."

Well, in _that_ case… "No, that's okay, Trip," Archer assured him. "I think I've got the gist of it."

Trip nodded. "Alright, Captain, thanks for stoppin' by. Mal!" he hollered suddenly, projecting his voice to the upper level. Archer jumped. And jumped again when his step backwards landed on Mal, who had mysteriously materialized near Trip.

"Ow," Mal remarked, giving Archer a reproachful look.

"Sorry," the Captain began, startled.

"There you are," Trip cut in, as if Mal's near-instantaneous arrival had taken hours. "Clean up those tools, would ya? And go get me some coffee."

"Okay!" Mal agreed brightly.

"I'll be on the Bridge," Archer reminded Trip, beating a hasty retreat.

 

***

 

Trip allowed himself a brief moment of luxuriating under the hot water, lingering just a little longer than was strictly necessary for cleanliness. The hot water pounded away at his overworked muscles, easing the tension in them before he had to—A movement beyond the shower stall caught his eye, vague through the steamed-up glass, and all the muscles he'd been working to relax tensed again with wariness.

Suddenly a head popped around the glass. "Hello, it's just—" Then Mal was _in_ the shower, his clothing getting drenched, holding Trip firmly by the upper arms. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

Trip planted his feet more firmly on the slippery surface; they'd barely begun to slide out from under him when Mal intervened. And now Mal was standing _way_ too close for Trip's comfort. Given that Trip was naked and all.

"Okay, thanks, get out now," Trip ordered, pulling himself away from Mal and fighting the instinct to cover the important bits, which would only draw attention to them.

"This doesn't seem very safe," Mal countered worriedly. "I've noticed that before. Maybe I should stay here while you finish."

As usual Mal seemed to be completely serious, as opposed to playing a prank or even being oh so inappropriate. "No," Trip told him succinctly. "Get out!"

"Well there's no need to get upset," Mal replied defensively, making no move to leave. "If I hadn't been here you might have fallen and injured yourself, after all."

"I wouldn't have even _started_ to fall if you hadn't been sneakin' around, scarin' me!" Trip argued.

"I wasn't 'sneaking around,'" Mal retorted. "I just came in to wash my hands. They were dirty."

As if that was all the justification in the world. "And you couldn't wait until I was out of here?!" Trip demanded, becoming as steamed as the shower. Well-intentioned or not, this guy _definitely_ had boundary issues.

"Well I could have," Mal admitted, "but why should I? You weren't using the sink."

Trip tried to dredge up a little patience. Turn the incident into a 'teaching moment,' as his mom would say. "Okay, most humans do _not_ like someone just popping in on them in the bathroom, got it? Now scram, already!"

"But I don't understand."

Trip was becoming increasingly desperate to get rid of him. "Look, how would _you_ like it if—" Mal cocked his head to the side thoughtfully and Trip gave up that line of reasoning. "Okay, how would you like it if someone other than _me_ just walked in on you in the shower?"

Mal really gave the question fair consideration. "That depends. Is it a nice person?" Trip made a sound of frustration. "Have they come to help me, or perhaps bring me a snack? That would be alright, I suppose…"

"Who snacks in the d—n shower?!" Trip yelled at him. "Just go, get out!" He turned his back resolutely on the other man.

Mal's demeanor changed suddenly as he gasped in horror. "What's this? You're injured!"

Trip tried to twist around to see what he was talking about, especially as Mal had dropped to his knees and looked quite close to grabbing Trip's backside. "What the h—l are you talkin' about?!"

"You've got a horrible bruise, just here," Mal reported with concern, examining Trip's lower back.

"Oh, that's just where I banged into that loose panel yesterday," Trip began dismissively. "It's not horrible, it's hardly—"

The sound of a throat clearing—which was not Mal's—made Trip jump and start to spin around. Which made him start to slip again, which made Mal reach to steady him. Which all together made a rather racy tableau for Captain Archer to witness.

"Um—I—um—" Trip gaped.

Jon politely turned his back on his friend, a bit slowly for Trip's preference, and with a distinct smirk visible. "Sorry, Commander," he said, voice choked with formality. "You were late for our meeting, and I thought I heard yelling—" And then Archer decided that, as Trip's Captain and friend, he really didn't need to give any more explanation.

"Trip was yelling to tell me about snacking in the shower," Mal supplied in an innocent and completely unhelpful way.

"Oh really?" Archer replied with polite interest, and through his haze of humiliation and not a little bit of anger Trip could hear the ribbing waiting to pounce.

"Sorry, sir," he forced out, with as much dignity as a naked man with an audience of two could. "I'll be there in just a minute. As soon as I get dressed," he added pointedly, willing Mal to _move, move, move._

The other man stood up, at least. "Ooh, can I dress you today, Trip?" he asked eagerly. "Maybe that pretty green shirt with the—"

"GET OUT!" Trip roared, as he heard Jon's chuckles burst forth. Officially he was only shouting at Mal; but Archer left too, not wanting to push his luck. Somehow, Trip concluded bitterly as he finally shut off the water, his oasis of relaxation had just become irrevocably tainted.


End file.
